Nala Update 6 Months

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Hi Friends! Today’s post is all about the newest little addition to our family little miss Nala…

It’s crazy she is well over 50 pounds now, but it wasn’t that long ago she was tiny little tubby…

How Big Will Nala Get?

Most likely around 100 pounds or so, her father is well over 130!

How Is Training Going?

So much better! Right before she started training my mother in law came to visit, and Nala literally went nuts. She went from my sweet little hyper pup to train wreck monster in 1 hour. She was so excited and TOTALLY OUT OF CONTROL. Since starting training thinsg are 180% better and always improving.

What’s made the biggest difference in training?

The gentle leader for sure! I was using a harness with her, which I learned actually encourages her to pull more. The weird thing is we would do okay until we got around someone then it was disaster town. We now use the gentle leader whenever we have company because it automatically calms her down.

What about exercise?

We play fetch A LOT, now that she gets the concept of fetch. At first I throw something and she’d just stare at me. I don’t know for some reason I thought puppies would naturally understand the fetch game, but just like everything else it was something she had to learn. Nala been getting exercise mostly in the form of walking but we have been doing some walk/run’s recently. We will run for quarter of a mile and walk for a quarter of a mile and repeat. This morning we did 2.5 miles and she was beat afterward.

I’ve heard varying opinions on how long and when you can start running your puppy or dog. Some places say 6 months, some say 8, some say 16 months for a larger breed. I don’t really know what to make of all this so I’ll just say that we will take it by how she feels and take it slow when it comes to running. Lately I’ve been running in the morning and then coming back to get her for the last couple of miles for a cool down run or walk which seems to be working okay. Sometimes I feel like I’m double training but that’s okay!

What about house training?

We went with the bell system, there are bells on the door that she rings when she wants to go out and that seems to work pretty well.Nala has been okay at house training. When we thought she was totally house broken (no accidents for two weeks) we let her out of the confinements of the kitchen/living room which was tiled and onto the carpet. Unfortunately with new found freedom came bad habits, but the accidents are being come less frequent.

What about Missy? How have Nala and Missy got along?

Nala and Missy meet one -two times a day and it’s usually Nala trying to get close and Missy making it clear she doesn’t want her anywhere near her. With blocking Nala out of the upstairs thats mainly where Missy stays. It’s like we have two houses with a pup on the bottom floor and a kitty on the top. I’d love to have some suggestions on how to get these two sisters a little bit closer.

What’s surprise me the most about being a dog owner?

How hard it can be! Getting up in the middle of the night to let her out, crate training, cleaning up accidents, fitting in time for my workouts and walking her, training, bathing her, etc…Holy Crap!

What’s been the best part of having Nala?

All the great things about having a dog: the funny things she does, playing with her, sending pictures of her back and forth with Mr. Hungry, spending more time with Mr. Hungry because we were doing something like walk, train, or bath her. Having a giant cuddle buddy, Nala definitely loves to cuddle! Having an excuse to come home in the middle of a long work day to let her out is a big plus too!

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